This specification relates to query processing.
The Internet provides access to a wide variety of resources, such as image files, audio files, video files, and web pages. A search system can identify resources in response to queries submitted by users and provide information about the resources in a manner that is useful to the users.
Search systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated to facilitate new user interaction models. For example, speech recognition and speech processing systems are prevalent in many consumer electronic devices. Many of these electronic devices now utilize speech command processing techniques to invoke and perform search operations. For example, a user device, such as a smart phone, can process speech commands to submit a query to a search engine.
User spoken queries are often different from the queries a user would type into a search box when using a typing input. This is because users tend to fall into a “conversational” behavior when speaking queries, and the queries are less structured and include more “filler” words than similar queries when typed. For example, when a user wants information regarding the local weather, the user may utter “What's my weather like today?” However, when typing in such a query, the user may type “local weather.”